Oops: Michigan Republicans Have Passed a Right to Work Law that may be Impossible to Implement

Did Michigan Republicans even read the ALEC-Koch “Right-to-Work” legislation they just passed?
It doesn’t appear likely. Why? Because the law may not be able to be implemented as intended.
Just as the Wisconsin law violated their state constitution, so it
appears the Michigan law does the same, albeit for different reasons. In
addition to the violation of the state constitution, just as in
Wisconsin, we also have a lawsuit filed over the violation of the
Michigan Open Meetings law. But to the constitutional issue…Michigan Senate Democrats
report, “The Michigan Constitution gives clear authority to the Civil
Service Commission over conditions of employment for the state’s
workforce. Experts have suggested today only a vote of the Civil Service
Commission could enact Right to Work policies for state workers.”
Oopsie.
This is the sort of thing that happens when a national organization
is writing your legislation for you. But one assumes that the big boys
at ALEC did not count on the uber laziness of the Republicans. Surely
they were meant to fine tune the bill to suit their state. But then,
when you shove a bill through in a lameduck session and don’t hold it
open for debate, these things tend to happen.
Senator Bert Johnson (D – Detroit) pointed out that not only the
public, but also the lawmakers were not given a chance to read the
bills, “The public was not given an opportunity to read these bills,
legislators were not given an opportunity to read these bills, and we
now know that the Governor himself either didn’t read or didn’t
understand these bills himself. This process has been a complete affront
to Democracy from the start and was nothing more than a political gift
to the Koch Brothers and ALEC who bought and paid for this legislation.”
Over and over again, we see Republicans violating the law to pass
ALEC legislation, and we also see them refusing to even read the bills
they present let alone the bills of the opposition. What, exactly, are
they being paid by the people to do, if not read and write legislation
that actually fits the laws?
The same law that Governor Walker passed in violation of Open Meetings laws and in violation of the state constitution was struck down by the courts
in September. The millions wasted on passing legislation illegally and
fighting it in courts speaks to the seriousness of Republicans when they
talk about deficits. There’s always money to enact a political agenda
aimed at the opposition party, but there’s no money for starving kids.
Further irony is provided by Michigan State Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons
(R-Alto), who called the passage of the “right-to-work” law “freeing”
the workers. Apparently Ms. Lyons didn’t want her husband freed. He is a
corrections officer and Ms. Lyons fought to have corrections officers
exempted from the law. She explained,
“When we talk about the brave women in police and fire we need to
remember people in corrections. These guys work in conditions that we
can’t even begin to imagine. It’s not financial. It’s philosophy. I am
saying we need to treat our corrections officers that way we treat our
police men and women and firefighter men and women.”
So, Ms. Lyons believes that we should treat our corrections officers
(like her husband) the way we treat our police and firefighters, which
she implies is better than we treat the other workers, because they work
in tough conditions and therefor deserve or have earned the right to be
treated better. And yet, she calls denying the right to collectively
bargain freedom. What we have here is an admission by a Republican that
when it comes to their own personal lives, they’ll take the union,
please. No doubt Ms. Lyons is familiar with all that the union does to
protect her husband. If she’s lucky, the law she supported will be
struck down.
Ms. Lyon’s amendment was not taken up by the Michigan legislature,
but then, seeing as they appear not to have read the actual bill they
passed, she should take heart that it wasn’t personal. ALEC doesn’t
recognize corrections officers as worthy; aka, voting Republican.

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.Benjamin FranklinOne has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.Martin Luther King

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."Abraham Lincoln

“If tyranny and oppression come to this land it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”James Madison